March 2004

“HAVING BEGUN IN THE SPIRIT”

“Not by MIGHT, nor by power, but
by My Spirit, says the Lord!”(Zec 4:6)

Part 5

            Heb 2428 translates the word,“might”, as “wealth” ten times in the OT! One of these is in Ru 2:1, “Naomi (Ruth’s mother-in-law) had a relation of her husband's in Bethlehem named Boaz (lit. “strength”) a man of great wealth (might) of the family of Elimelech (lit. “God of the King).” Boaz never dreamed that the righteous management of his wealth would be one means by which God would give him a wife of great beauty; and through her, an anointed seed to produce 30 generations that would precipitate Israel’s long-prophesied MESSIAH, also called the CHRIST!
            In Lk 16:9-12 Jesus says, “Make friends for yourselves with unrighteous mammon so that, when it fails (and it always does), those whom you have favored may receive you into everlasting habitations. He who is faithful in little things, is also faithful in much: and he who is unjust in little things, is also unjust in much. Therefore, if you have dealt unfaithfully with unrighteous mammon, who will entrust true riches to you? And if ye have not proved faithful in what belongs to another, who will give you true riches of your own? No servant can serve two masters: he will either hate the one, and love the other; or he will be faithful to one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon!” Many sermons have been preached on this passage, but few, if any, have fully expounded on its two operative words: “cannot” and “mammon”.
            First: Jesus did not say, “You should not serve God and mammon”, like a strong warning against doing so; but He states, “You can not serve God and mammon”, as an impossibility of doing so! As Jas 3:11-12 attests, “My brethren, can the fountain send forth sweet and bitter water from the same opening?Can a fig tree bear olive berries? Can a vine tree produce figs? Likewise, a fountain can not yield both salt water and fresh”, in the same way, Christ is saying in the above parable, we are incapable of loving both God and mammon!
            Second: Gk 3126 defines “mammon” as: “Wealth personified; avarice deified!” Selah! To personify a thing means to give it a human persona the way cartoons personify animals such as: Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck or Porky Pig, who walk upright; possess human intellects, emotions and desires; and talk to each other in human conversations with human reasoning. In the definition for mammon, we see that same human status accorded to wealth! Even worse the stature of deity- Dict def: “Exalted, divine nature of a supreme being, especially God”- is accorded to avarice; which, in turn, The Dict. def. is: “Covetousness, excessive or insatiable desire for wealth or gain; also greediness, and cupidity [from whence is the myth of “Cupid”- the winged infant that shoots little arrows at a person’s heart with his bow, to make them fall in love] and is defined in the Dict.: “Lust, and an inordinate desire for wealth.”] And in mammon this avarice is given godlike status!
            Is it any wonder God says, “The love of money is the root of all evil” when man not only elevates it to human status; but far worse, exalts it to the place of a god! By this we break the first Commandment of God where He says, “I am the Lord your God...you shall have no other gods before Me...you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God! I visit the iniquity of the fathers upon their children, unto the third and fourth generation of them who hate Me; and I show mercy to thousands who love Me!” (Ex 20:2-3, 5) Remember we read earlier: “No servant can serve two masters: for he will hate the one, and love the other!” Anything we love, and trust in, and worship, instead of Christ is Antichrist to us! But who would hate a God of Love? Ro 8:6 says that “Being flesh-minded is hatred toward God!” So we see that all thoughts originating from our carnal minds are spawned from hatred toward God!! Are you shocked to find that your flesh hates God? Gal 5:37 says, “The desires of the flesh are opposed to the Holy Spirit, as the desires of the Holy Spirit are opposed to the flesh! The two are contrary to one another; so YOU CANNOT DO THE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO!” And isn’t that exactly what Paul laments in Ro 7:14-25?

“We know that God’s Law is spiritual: but I am a creature of the flesh (carnal,
unspiritual), having been sold into slavery under the control of sin! For I do
not understand my own actions- I am baffled, bewildered. I do not practice or
accomplish what I wish, but I do the very thing that I loathe (which my moral
instinct condemns.) Now if I do (habitually) what is contrary to my desire, that
means that I acknowledge and agree that the Law is good (morally excellent)
and that I take sides with it. However, it is no longer I who do the deed, but
the sin (principle) which is at home in me, and has possession of me. For I
know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh!! I can will what is
right, but I cannot perform it- I have the intention and urge to do what is right
but no power to carry it out! For I fail to practice the good deeds I desire to do,
but the evil deeds that I do not desire to do are what I am ever doing! Now if I
do what I do not desire to do, it is no longer I doing it- it is not myself that acts-
but the sin (principle) which dwells within me (fixed and operating in my soul).
So I find it to be a law (of my being), that, when I want to do good, evil is ever
present with me, and I am subject to its insistent demands. For I endorse and
delight in the law of God in my inmost self- with my new nature: but I discern
in my bodily members- in the sensitive appetite and will of the flesh- a different
law (rule of action) at war against the law of my mind (my reason), making me
a prisoner to the law of sin that dwells in my bodily organs- in the sensitive
appetite and will of the flesh. O unhappy, pitiable and wretched man that I am!
Who will release and deliver me from the (shackles of) this body of death? O,
thank God! He will! through Jesus Christ, the Anointed One, our Lord. So then
indeed, of myself with the mind and heart I serve the law of God; but with the
flesh, the law of sin.”

            As Paul was not deceived about his fleshly weakness, let us likewise be not deceived! Let us acknowledge now and forever, “THE FLESH PROFITS NOTHING!” (Jn 6:63) Say it with me, brethren, “NOTHING GOOD DWELLS IN MY FLESH!” How better to become a testimony to the Sovereignty of God’s Will, as well as to the vanity and futility of our self-will, than to be held captive under sin- until the Mercy of God releases us from such disgrace?! One by one, our chains of sin-bondage fall off our souls when the Spirit of the Lord speaks the Word of Deliverance! How we long for the day when we walk completely free of the shackles of sin, and walk only in the Spirit forevermore! Hallelujah!

[TO BE CONTINUED]